Monday, January 30, 2012

Caught in a Riptide



Passionflower... dreaming of summer (already!)




Here is a better sample of the yummy Colonial Red of our house... much easier to see here.


Well, 100 faces Thursday came and went... I had my photos downloaded into the computer, all ready. Somehow, it all got pushed to the back burner. I had a great little lunch 'party' (as the kids call it" on Friday with some girlfriends and all our youngest who can have after-pre school playdates, mid-day. It was pure bliss to chat with the girls and hang out. Need to do more of that! (thank you, R and K!)


Anyway, this last Monday of January has turned into... First 100 faces of Thursday :) There will be more at Flickr later today. But, for now - I must don the yoga clothes and corral the kids into their school togs. Happy Monday!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Winter has Arrived

Looking out the front door at our first real snowstorm... about a week 1/2 ago. (loving the Colonial Red we painted our house this summer! Looks great in the white snow, just as I'd planned :) Hubby could NOT understand, 'til now.)


The kids are OBSESSED with the characters in this well-loved book. Especially Agustus Gloop and Veruca Salt. I'm loving re-living my childhood through this book and them during out-loud reading time. My preference is the Gene Wilder film version - my vintage. They have not seen it yet but scowl at the Johnny Depp version - it's too scary for them. Depp is a bit edgy for them, I suppose... but I don't mind him at all ;)


Mister Knightley looking tame and mild in the early morning kitchen.


Fabulous mittens, hand knit. I found them at the annual Handmade Parade sale in Spokane... these were worth scratching and grabbing over :) I love 'em, especially on a dog walk.


Looking forward to the weekend... I'm working on a quilt loosely inspired by Jude at Spirit Cloth. It's been a long process, since a lot of months were spent looking, passing by... thinking and putting away. Was unsure of how or what to do with this beginning but, one day I just started adding, slowly... figuring it out along the way. I'll share soon :)

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Here's Annabel and a Lovely Loom

Drum roll please... ta da! The first sweater I've completed by myself! It's Annabel from Madelinetosh. Amanda at Soulemama and Beth at Tangled Sky Studio both inspired this project. I love the style of it - a bit cropped at the waist and the sleeves as well. The yarn is a bulky Lion's brand yarn... the quality is OK but, not as yummy as the nicer stuff bought in the yarn shops. I didn't want to commit to the good stuff until I was certain I could actually do this. So, it was thought of as a 'muslin' (for test-sewing)/dry-run yarn. Think I passed the test and am ready for a more posh, black one!

Dig the buttons... got 'em at Paradise Fibers - the place is a treasure trove of yarn, knitting notions, spinning wheels, looms, dyes, books, roving on and on etc.

My birthday present from hubby, (back in October!) a tapestry loom. Finally found a youtube video on how to warp it. Currently fussing with tension, spacing of the warp yarn and size of yarn. It's a whole new frontier! The learning curve is a mysterious one, I must say - but, I'm up for the challenge.


Snow's coming this afternoon, maybe 3 more inches but thankfully, the roads are pretty good and plowed. Friday was a snow day and this mama is ready for school tomorrow morning!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

First 100 Women of 2012... Thursday













More progress on the ladies here! The first 2 woodcuts are test prints that I painted. Today, they were 'cleaned up' during pre-school and will probably print them tomorrow along with 2 other ones. That's 4 new prints for this week. Think the 'maybe I'll post something' format is working for me :) (touch wood).




Also included are a few drawings for more woodcuts. It was a good drawing day - with the records playing, snow falling, corgis playing in the yard and little girl dancing in the living room. Perfect for art making. Check my flickr for even more new work - including some revised, painted ladies from last week! Link up top to the right.




Meanwhile, it's been snowing all day and I haven't shovelled any. There's always night-shovelling, right? Still stunned by the Italian ship sinking/accident - the passenger accounts are just bone-chilling and very sad. Praying for some miracles, families and for the survivors.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Dispatch from the Fireside

We're expecting a big snowstorm today... the first biggie of our winter, really. Bracing ourselves

! Have some fun, new projects to report on in the next few days, and good stuff for 100 Faces Thursday.


See you soon...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

First 100 Women of 2012... Thursday









Here are 3 more lovelies to share for woodcut Thursday. All of 'em are test prints - I've gone back and tweaked/cleaned up this and that. Then, the final printing and on to painting it as soon as the ink dries. Check out a few more at my flickr here.


Happy almost long weekend!!


ps Blogger is not letting me post a link right now... but, you can find my flickr badge on the right hand side of the screen :)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Projects for 2012!

Ok, the new year sort of snuck up on me... while putting away Christmas stuff and thinking about how to run the kids' energy into the ground over the holiday break. But, I didn't want to pass up a chance to start something new. Fresh starts and new calendars have an effect on me.

So, after much thought over the past few days of January, I decided to break up the year into 3-month chunks. For the first 'quarter' (ug, it sounds so 'financial'!) there will be a series of woodcut faces. I'll be posting them on Thursdays... no real goal per week, just how ever many 'happen' over the week. You can also see them over at my Flickr page... I'm going to post all of 'em there. This is going to be exciting! The next 3 quarters? Who knows... they are up for grabs. I hate to commit to something this soon for the whole year so, this is the 'wiggle room' that's necessary to keep things spontaneous.

My other project this year is to find more venues for showing art and get myself 'out there' much more. I mean, if I'm going to make it, then... people have to see it! :)

Happy new year, everyone! Please don't be shy, leave a comment if you like. I love to read them and really appreciate hearing from you :)